Kim Schneider Malek
Q&A with Kim Schneider Malek, director of the Bailey Program for Family Enterprise
Kim Schneider Malek joined Daniels in February as the director of the Bailey Program for Family Enterprise. For nearly 25 years, Malek has worked as an educator, facilitator and consultant focused exclusively on advancing family enterprise. She is the founder of the Family Enterprise Alliance, LLC, and was the 2014 recipient of the Family Firm Institute’s Barbara Hollander Award for global leadership and educational contribution to the interdisciplinary field of family enterprise. We asked Malek to share her expertise to give the DU community an overview of the field of family enterprise.
Q: Why is there a need for the Bailey Program for Family Enterprise?
A: Family enterprise owners, leaders and advisors constantly seek new insight into practices, tools and ideas that advance continuity and succession. They seek structured learning experiences to help them figure out what to do and to normalize their experience.
University-based family enterprise education programs like the Bailey Program for Family Enterprise at DU exist to help owners, managers, family members and other stakeholders create a growth mindset through learning, community and scholarship. The Bailey Program for Family Enterprise serves as a curator, architect and tour guide for family enterprise members seeking greater insight into the universe of possibilities for their family, ownership, business, wealth and governance.
Q: What does family enterprise mean?
A: Family enterprise used to be a term reserved for the multi-entity, family-owned and family-controlled high-net-worth-implying businesses. Today, it is an overarching term referring to various structural entities including a family business, family office, family foundation, boards and family councils, all of which affect and are affected by the enterprising ownership family.
Q: Why focus on family enterprise as a unique field of study?
A: Family enterprise is at the very core of the economy.
A: Family enterprise is at the very core of the economy. According to the U.S. census bureau, 80 to 90% of businesses are family controlled. There are 32.4 million family businesses in the U.S. Family-owned businesses contribute 54% of the U.S. Gross domestic product ($7.7 trillion) and employ 59% of the workforce (83.3 million jobs) and are responsible for 78% of all new job creation. Thirty-five percent of Fortune 500 companies are also family-controlled.
Q: How did you come to study family enterprise and be an expert in this area?
A: I began in the field of family enterprise consulting and education in 1997. My dad, Frank S. Schneider (BSBA 1955, MBA 1960), was an early interdisciplinary pioneer in this field. After many years in distance education, tech-based learning and higher education programming, I joined my father’s firm. He and I also had the great privilege to design and co-teach family business graduate courses in the School of Accountancy at Daniels in collaboration with other disciplines.
Q: Who is the Bailey Program name for?
A: The Bailey Program for Family Enterprise is a multi-generational enterprising family creating mutually beneficial impact through philanthropy and education. Paul T. Bailey’s family donated $1 million to DU to support a comprehensive initiative to deliver credit courses towards degree programs, certificate programs, workshops, seminars, conferences, events, speaker series and peer exchange forums for family enterprise overall.
Their goal is to meet member learners where they are, with online, site-based and hybrid educational programming. They also want to ensure content is designed around theory, practice and experiential learning. Programs are taught by experts, professors and other family enterprises.
The Bailey Companies are a multi-generational, family-owned and family-managed regenerative enterprise based in Golden, Colorado. They have been involved in several industries including hospitality, fast-food restaurants and real estate.
To learn more, visit the Bailey Program for Family Enterprise website.
Terrific article. Very informative as well. I am excited to read it.